BRESLAU, ONT. — Homebuilder Empire Communities has announced the results of its pilot program that is intended to incorporate new sustainable construction and energy efficiency techniques.
The Discovery Home pilot at Empire’s Riverland community in Breslau, Ont. includes five model homes. Sustainability techniques are being applied to the wood framing, floors and roofing and include solar battery storage. Data has been collected from one Hybrid home to document that the construction methods and technology incorporated into the homes result in significant CO2 emission reductions. The Hybrid home has been found to produce five metric tonnes less CO2 than its code counterpart.
“Using new technologies and materials above Energy Star and Ontario Building Code, the homebuilder looks to influence how homes are built in the future,” said a recent statement.
The release said the program will have a “large impact on how Empire will meet the lifestyle needs and demands of future homebuyers.”
Three of the five model homes were built to current Energy Star standards, while two others have been built to meet potentially more stringent future standards.
The homes were constructed in partnership with Dow Building Solutions, Rockwool and George Brown College, who provided the materials and monitoring expertise for the homes. Additional materials and support were provided through RenewABILITY, Greyter Water Systems, A.O. Smith, vanEE, Panasonic, Aeroseal and Airmax, and project management was undertaken by Clearsphere.
“Empire strives to continuously grow and become leaders in the industry, and we are committed to doing this through innovation by piloting energy-saving technologies and building solutions into experiments that can be applied to new homes down the line,” says Paul Golini, co-founder and executive vice-president of industry relations at Empire Communities, in a statement.
“The Discovery Home looks like a typical new home build, but in between the wood framing, under the floors and up on the roof there’s plenty of new energy efficient features and innovative technology experiments happening,” says Stephen Doty, manager of quality assurance at Empire Communities.
In recognition of the Discovery Home pilot program, Empire was named double Cross Boarder Builder Challenge winner, with the Canadian Production Builder award for the Residential Energy Services Network and the Canadian Residential Services Network President’s Award.
Empire has built over 20,000 new homes and condos and is one of the largest homebuilders in North America with current communities in Toronto, southwestern Ontario and the southern United States, the release said.
Recent Comments
comments for this post are closed